Hernán Evaristo Medford Bryan ( , ; born May 23, 1968) is a Costa Rican former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and current coach of

Deportivo Marquense Club Deportivo Marquense, or simply Marquense, is a Guatemalan professional football club based in San Marcos, Department of San Marcos. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football following promotion from qualifying ...

. Highly regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Central American football, Medford achieved success as both a player and a coach. As a player, Medford is fondly remembered in Costa Rica for two historic goals, both of which he considers his favorite, while playing for

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

: the winning goal of a group stage match against Sweden to qualify to the knockout stage, and the winning goal of the ''

Aztecazo On 16 June 2001, Mexico played Costa Rica in a football match at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico on the fourth matchday of the final round in the qualification process for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Mexico and Costa Rica reached the ma ...

'', Mexico's first defeat in a non-friendly match at the Estadio Azteca. Numerous media outlets regard Medford as the most successful coach in Central America, as he also found massive success across the region, winning championships in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala. He also coached

Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. Their colours are burgundy and white. It ...

to win the 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, thus qualifying to the

2005 FIFA Club World Championship The 2005 FIFA Club World Championship (officially known as the FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup Japan 2005 for sponsorship reasons) was the second FIFA Club World Championship, a football competition organised by FIFA for the champion clu ...

, finishing on the third place.

Club career

Nicknamed ''Pelicano'', or ''Pelican'', Medford made his league debut for

Sagrada Familia Sagrada is a Spanish word meaning "sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. T ...

on 28 September 1986 against Cartaginés and scored his first goal on 4 January 1987 against Limonense.Las vivencias de Hernán Medford en su trajinar por el futbol mundial
- Nación In Costa Rica's first division, he played for

Deportivo Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its Association football, football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, Costa Rica, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aym ...

, where he won three national championships and the 1993

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

. After three years at Saprissa he played in several different leagues worldwide, including

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

of Italy (

Foggia Calcio Calcio Foggia 1920, commonly referred to as Foggia, is an Italian football club based in Foggia, Apulia. It currently plays in Serie C, having last been in the top level Serie A in 1995. It plays in Serie C, the third division of the Italian ...

), the

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

(

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

), the

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

(

SK Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid (), commonly known as Rapid Wien or Rapid Vienna in English language, English, is an Football in Austria, Austrian professional football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian cham ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

in Spain (

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

), and the

Primera División de México Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

(

Pachuca Pachuca (; ), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the east-central Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca Municipality, Pach ...

, León and

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

). Pachuca decided to retire Medford's number 17 after he scored his 100th goal in his career.

International career

Medford was part of the

1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship The 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the first edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Dalian in People's Republic of China from July 31, 1985, to August 11, 1985. Players born after August 1, 1968, ...

held in China, the first

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

tournament where Costa Rica ever appeared, and scored the first goal ever for his home country in this type of tournaments. He made his senior debut for

in a February 1987

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

and earned a total of 89 caps, scoring 18 goals. He represented his country in 37

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches and played in two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, Italy 1990 and Japan-Korea 2002. He scored a goal against Sweden in the 1990 World Cup, which resulted in qualification for the second round. He also scored the winning goal at the

Azteca Stadium Estadio Azteca () (officially known as Estadio Banorte for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium located in Coyoacán, Mexico City. It is the official home of football team Club América, as well as the Mexico national team. The stadium ...

against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in the qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The match, known as the ''

'', is one of only two World Cup qualifiers that Mexico have ever lost on home soil. He also played at the

1995 UNCAF Nations Cup Six national Association football, football teams from Central America competed in the 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup (''Copa Centroamericana''). The winning team were the defending champions Honduras national football team, Honduras, who defeated Guatem ...

as well as at the

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, and

2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the sixth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). The tournament was once again held in the United States, in Miami and Pasadena. The forma ...

s and the

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

and

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil were the two-time defending cha ...

s. His final international was a June

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

match against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Managerial career

After retiring from professional football in 2003, he entered coaching. He first coached

with great success, where he has won several championships, including 2 national tournaments, the Uncaf Cup and the

, giving Saprissa the right to compete in the

in Japan, in which Saprissa finished 3rd. As of October 28, 2006, the Costa Rican Football Federation, or

Federación Costarricense de Fútbol The Costa Rican Football Federation (, FCRF), also known as FEDEFUTBOL or FEDEFUT, is the official association football governing body in Costa Rica and is in charge of the Costa Rica national football team and the Costa Rica women's national fo ...

, announced him as the new head coach for the

Costa Rica national football team The Costa Rica national football team () represents Costa Rica in men's international Association football, football. The national team is administered by the Costa Rican Football Federation, Federación Costarricense de Fútbol (), the governi ...

. He was sacked on 28 June 2008 after a string of poor results and only a few wins, and showing unprecedent bias in favor of his old former players of Saprissa. He took the reins of

Club León Club León is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in León, Guanajuato, León, Guanajuato, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football league system, Mexican football. The club was founded in 1944 ...

for the Clausura 2009 season. His first game as head coach was against

Tampico Madero Club Jaiba Brava, formerly known as Tampico Madero, is a Mexican professional association football, football club based in Tampico and Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, that plays in Liga de Expansión MX, the second level division of Mexican football ...

, ending in a 1–1 tie. He was fired as manager by the president of the club owing to poor results in the pre-season and the season itself. After leaving

Medford decided to take a break in coaching and decided to work as an ''administrator/manager'' but he was appointed manager of Liberia Mía in December 2009. In 2010 Hernan Medford signed with

Limón Limón (), also known as Puerto Limón, is the capital city of both the province and canton of the same name. One of Costa Rica's seven "middle cities" (i.e., main cities outside of San José's Greater Metropolitan Area), Limón has a populat ...

, a club team from the province of Limon. He signed also as an administrator. The team seemed to have benefited from his previous experience as administrator. In June 2011 Carlos Pascal the team’s chairman was arrested due to accusations of drug trafficking leaving the club without a president. Medford tried to help the team survive this set back since without Pascal the team was left without financial support. Medford endured a difficult season with Limon F.C. In August 2011 Medford resigned, claiming it had nothing to do with the financial problems the club had suffered, but because of personal decisions. He took charge of Guatemalan side Xelajú in September 2011. In May 2013, he was unveiled as the new manager of Honduran giants

Real España Real may refer to: Currencies * Argentine real * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Nature and science * Reality, the state of things as they exist, rath ...

. Under his direction Real España became the 2013 champion of the Honduran league. In July 2014 Medford was appointed the new national team manager of Honduras, leaving the post later in December due to the poor performance of the team during his tenure.

Personal life

Medford is a son of Herman Medford Sterling and Gloria Bryan Givans and has two sisters. He has two daughters from his first marriage with Arlene Lewis. Currently he is married to model Ingrid Solís.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Medford goal.''

Honours

Source:

Player

Pachuca *

Primera División A Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

: 1995–96 Rapid Wien *

Austrian Cup The Austrian Cup (), known as UNIQA ÖFB Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual football competition held by the Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB. During the 2008–09 season, Austria Wien won the tournament for a record 27th time. Wo ...

runner-up: 1990–91 Rayo Vallecano *

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

runner-up: 1991–92 Saprissa * Primera División: 1988, 1989, 1993–94 *

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Costa Rica *

CONCACAF Championship The CONCACAF Championship, also known as CONCACAF Nations Championship, was an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the C ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

runner-up:

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Individual * CONCACAF Team of the Century: 1998"Balboa, Ramos named to CONCACAF "Team of the Century""
, Soccer America, 14 May 1998.

Manager

Herediano *

Liga FPD The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Liga de Fútbol de Primera División (Liga FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Uni ...

: 2016 Verano, 2017 Verano; runner-up: 2016 Invierno, 2017 Apertura Real España *

Honduran Liga Nacional Honduran may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Honduras * Hondurans, persons from Honduras or of Honduran descent * Honduran population, see Ethnicity in Honduras * Honduran Spanish, the language spoken in Honduras * Honduran cuisine * ...

: 2013 Apertura Saprissa * Primera División: 2003–04, 2005–06; runner-up: 2004–05 *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

; runner-up:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

FIFA Club World Championship The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contes ...

third place:

UNCAF Interclub Cup The UNCAF Interclub Cup was an annual international football competition held in the Union Centroamericana de Fútbol, UNCAF region (Central America). The competition was open to the leading domestic club teams in the region. The winners of each n ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

; runner-up:

Xelajú * Guatemalan Liga Nacional: 2012 Clausura Costa Rica *

UNCAF Nations Cup The Copa Centroamericana () was an association football competition organized by UNCAF as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from Central America. The tournament was held from 1991 to 2017, every two years in the years be ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Medford, Hernan 1968 births Living people Footballers from San José, Costa Rica Men's association football forwards Costa Rican men's footballers Costa Rica men's international footballers Costa Rica men's youth international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1997 Copa América players 2001 Copa América players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Deportivo Saprissa players GNK Dinamo Zagreb players SK Rapid Wien players Rayo Vallecano players Calcio Foggia 1920 players C.F. Pachuca players Club León footballers Club Necaxa footballers Liga FPD players Yugoslav First League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players La Liga players Serie A players Liga MX players Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Yugoslavia Costa Rican football managers Deportivo Saprissa managers Deportivo Saprissa non-playing staff Costa Rica national football team managers Real C.D. España managers C.S.D. Xelajú MC managers Honduras national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Guatemala Expatriate football managers in Honduras Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Austria Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Spain Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Italy Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Yugoslavia C.S.D. Municipal managers Costa Rican expatriate football managers